


A Master Learns

by bluedragoninamber



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Attachments, Dooku lives, Families of Choice, Fix-It, Gen, Jedi Code Breaking, Mace Windu was not Yoda's padawan, Master & Padawan Relationship(s), Qui-Gon Lives, Redemption, Wish Fulfillment, can be read as pre-slash or gen, fluff/angst/hurt/comfort, silliness and mud, use of invented word "Sithly" (not my creation), younger Dooku and Qui-Gon Jinn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-01
Updated: 2016-05-07
Packaged: 2018-06-05 18:34:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6716425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluedragoninamber/pseuds/bluedragoninamber
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Master Dooku taught Qui-Gon Jinn many things.  But sometimes, a master must learn from his padawan, and Qui-Gon will teach his master the most important lessons of all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Teach Me To Play

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Merfilly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Into the Breach and Out Again](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6599146) by [ilyena_sylph](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilyena_sylph/pseuds/ilyena_sylph), [Merfilly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly). 
  * Inspired by [Padawan Mine](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4717751) by [PunsBulletsAndPointyThings](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PunsBulletsAndPointyThings/pseuds/PunsBulletsAndPointyThings). 



** Disclaimer ** **: I don’t own it, and I am making no money off of it.**

 ** AN ** **: This little story is my first foray into Star Wars fanfiction and a gift for Merfilly. I’m utterly captivated by Dooku, and Merfilly coauthored a story in which, despite Qui-Gon’s sincere attempt, Dooku refuses to return to the Light. This is canon of course, but it nearly broke my heart to read it. I had to write a Dooku story of my own. I had only intended for this to be fluff, but I can see now that there will be one more chapter probably to account for Dooku’s latter choices and give me my happy ending. This story is wish fulfillment, and I’m aware that Dooku is probably OOC. I don’t care. By the way, while I plan to write slash in other stories, this story is NOT slash. It is master/padawan friendship only. This chapter takes place when Qui-Gon is eighteen and still Dooku’s padawan.**

            Master Dooku had found himself in a variety of embarrassing situations since taking on his joyful but mischievous padawan. But for once, his current predicament was absolutely not Qui-Gon Jinn’s fault. For the first time in a rather long time, Yan Dooku, Jedi Master and Count of Serenno, had done something mundanely embarrassingly normal.

            He had tripped over his own feet.

            That would have been bad enough. However, Dooku had the misfortune to do so while walking with his padawan in a very secluded section of the temple grounds…immediately after it had spent the last two days raining. When he fell, it was face-first into a large mud puddle.

            He sputtered indignantly, cursing in half a dozen languages as he pushed himself up on his elbows. Master Dooku was all over mud, his clothes covered in it, his skin and hair caked with it. He looked rather like the puddle had attempted to eat him. Qui-Gon stood stock still, his eyes caught somewhere between shock and amusement. Their training bond practically hummed with the effort it was taking for his padawan to keep himself from reacting to his master’s humiliation. Really, the boy had come such a long way. Dooku was, even in the middle of this mess, proud of him for his show of restraint. Then, he sighed, a small smile creeping onto his lips even as he spat out the mud in his mouth.

            “Nothing has been hurt but my pride, Qui-Gon. And while I appreciate your consideration of my feelings, it is not necessary under the circumstances.” His smile, though rueful, got just a bit wider. “Go ahead and laugh before you choke.”

            That was all it took. His padawan was soon laughing so hard that tears streamed down his cheeks as he stared at his master. The boy’s laughter was contagious, and then Dooku was laughing at himself, despite everything.

            Eventually, Qui-Gon managed to catch his breath. He grinned down at his master, and Dooku could not find it in himself to begrudge it to him. Idly, he probed their training bond and found an unexpected wistfulness. His padawan was remembering other similar times with his friends…but never once with his master. Dooku was innately formal, so that wasn’t surprising. What was surprising was the twinge of regret Dooku felt as he realized it. His padawan was also thinking that it would not be long before he would be too old for such silliness…silliness that he could still get away with now. Qui-Gon always lived in the moment, and Dooku always reprimanded him for it. But as he stared into his padawan’s eyes, Dooku decided that Qui-Gon’s position might be worth pursuing, just this once.

            Dooku’s smile became a smirk. He extended one hand up to his padawan.

            “If you’re going to laugh at me, the least you could do is help me up,” Dooku ordered imperiously, though there was rare mischief lurking in his brown eyes.  

            Qui-Gon, his face the picture of innocent obedience though answering mischief sparked in his blue eyes, grasped it immediately.

            “Of course, Master,” he said, preparing to pull the elder Jedi to his feet.

            Dooku tugged hard, unbalancing Qui-Gon, who landed with a satisfying splash in the mud puddle beside him.

            Much like Dooku had done, Qui-Gon came up sputtering and cursing, though the cursing was mild and aimed solely at Dooku. As his master watched, his padawan rolled to his back and then sat up. Qui-Gon looked every bit as bad as Dooku did as he reached up and shoved his mud-caked braid out of his eyes.

            “After that, I might be inclined to wonder if you are under some sort of alien influence, Master. This is hardly like you.” His grin took all the sting out of his comment.

            Dooku chuckled. “Even I am not made of stone, Qui-Gon.” He smiled. “And if you are going to have embarrassing stories to tell about me, it only seems fair that I have the same to tell about you.”

            Qui-Gon snorted. “Just admit it, Master. You wanted to play in the mud with me.”

            His master sighed. “Considering what we’ve been through lately, perhaps we could both call it justified.”

            Qui-Gon’s grin slipped, and he felt Dooku’s lingering disquiet over their past months’ missions through their bond, the bond that Dooku usually kept shielded but which was now completely open between them. It was Qui-Gon’s turn to sigh and offer up his own matching emotions and utter weariness of spirit to his master. Dooku sent back empathy and reassurance, and as Qui-Gon’s emotions calmed, so did Dooku’s.

            Finally surfacing from the bond, his master made an attempt to lighten the mood.

            “Be that as it may, Padawan, I hardly call this playing. We’re doing nothing but sitting here, after all.” Dooku’s expression was blank, but that mischief was back in his eyes.

            Qui-Gon played along. “An excellent point, Master. What would you suggest?”

            Qui-Gon did not have a chance to say anything further because Dooku pounced, toppling his padawan to the ground back into the mud. Wrestling was not something Jedi did frequently, but they managed anyway, grappling with each other in a messy, spirited tangle of arms and legs. Qui-Gon had the advantage of youth, but Dooku had more experience. Eventually, out of breath, they rolled to a stop, Dooku on his back, Qui-Gon straddling him, pinning him down. Qui-Gon moved back to allow his master to sit up.

            “Small Gods, Padawan, I don’t think I’ve ever done something this ridiculous before…not even in the crèche!” Dooku laughed again, idly tracing patterns in the mud with his fingers.

            Qui-Gon smiled. “Your crèche master must have been stricter than mine because I’ve done this a number of times.” He reached out, clasping his master’s hand in his own. He sent amusement and affection over their bond, and Dooku, after a hesitant moment, sent back the same.

            “I was never the sort of youngling to get involved in such things even when they did happen,” the elder Jedi admitted. “You know me well enough to know that for the truth.”

            His padawan’s smile became a grin. “Yet, you seem to be enjoying yourself.”

            Dooku shrugged, feeling his face flush red beneath the mud. “Yes, but…I suppose I’m not being a very good example to you.”

            Qui-Gon laughed, and he felt Dooku’s embarrassment ease slightly. Qui-Gon’s humor turned solemn for a moment as he caught and held his master’s gaze even as he reinforced the words across their bond.

            “You have never been anything but a good example to me, Master.” He followed it with a surge of gratitude and even stronger affection. Dooku did not reply, but Qui-Gon was shocked when slender, strong arms suddenly pulled him into a tight embrace. It was too tight and decidedly awkward, but Qui-Gon knew that his master had likely never hugged anyone in years. He relished it and returned it without hesitation, flooding their training bond with all the feelings that he usually shielded from his master.

            Clinging to each other, neither of them spoke, nor did either of them mention the tears that mixed with the mud on their faces. Finally, they both stirred, untangling themselves though the bond between them remained open.

            Qui-Gon broke the silence. “Master, if you never did this in the crèche, does that mean that you never learned how to make mud pies either?”

            Dooku chuckled. “I can’t say that I have. Is this another one of those essential skills that I must learn?”

            Qui-Gon smirked. “Defiinitely. Would you like me to teach you?”

            Dooku smirked back. “Very well, Padawan. Teach me.”

            They played in the mud like younglings the rest of the day. The sun had nearly set before they finally, reluctantly set to making their way back inside. It was fitting perhaps that they came across Master Yoda, Dooku’s own former master.

            They stopped. Yoda stared at them, utter shock and startled amusement clear on his features. He caught his former padawan’s sheepish gaze.

            “Teaching your padawan, what lesson were you?” Yoda’s voice was teasing.

            Dooku searched for the right words. Suddenly, he heard Qui-Gon through their bond. Dooku smiled.

            “Master, my padawan was the teacher today. He was teaching me…that sometimes even Jedi must learn how to play.”

            Yoda laughed. “Taken you this long to learn that, it has? An excellent teacher your padawan has been. Pleased I am.” He shooed them away with his stick. “But now, filthy are you! To the fresher, you must go!”

            They were all laughing as they turned away.  

           

    

           

           

           

           


	2. Follow Me Home

** Disclaimer ** **: I don’t own it, and I am making no money off of it.**

 ** AN ** **: A few notes that I didn’t mention previously. This is AU so I have changed some parts of canon. Tahl was never Qui-Gon’s lover, and Xanatos will not be his padawan. This chapter takes place seven years after the first. Qui-Gon was knighted at twenty at which time Dooku was twenty-five. I’m saying that Dooku was knighted at eighteen. I have no clue when the typical age would have been to take a first padawan, nor do I care. So in this chapter, Qui-Gon is twenty-five and has been a knight for five years. Dooku is thirty-two. He left the Order when he was twenty-eight, and he became a Sith lord at thirty. He’s been a Sith for two years. Warning, clichéd sappiness ahead. By the way, Dooku really is a Sith lord; he’s just not very good at it (so some people might find it a little cracky, I guess).**

            As far as Sith lords went, Dooku looked the part well enough, but his actions hardly left a record for a Sith lord to be proud of. Dooku had elected to have his confrontation with the Jedi in an open field near his estate on Serenno. Qui-Gon found himself strangely amused to find that Dooku (the ridiculous name of Darth Tyranus hardly suited his former master) had clearly taken care to get everyone out of the vicinity, both his staff and the general public. That the so-called Sith lord had gone to such an effort to ensure that there was no collateral damage from the battle gave Qui-Gon hope that Dooku could yet be saved.

            That and the way that Dooku was staring at him as they faced each other in the clearing. His master’s face looked years older than it should have, though Qui-Gon suspected that had less to do with Dooku’s use of the Dark Side and more to do with the stress of pretending to be something he was not. Even the Jedi Council had hesitated to send a knight out to deal with Serenno’s “Sith problem” because the Sith lord in question had apparently done very little that was Sithly. Granted, he had power, but he didn’t seem to be trying to acquire more of it. He didn’t go around using Force Lightning on people who displeased him. He did use it to execute people, but they had always received a fair trial first. In fact, he didn’t seem to have done anything to interfere with the normal functioning of his planet. Rather, he seemed to be taking care to enforce it. Dooku had also rooted out corruption oppressing the poor of Serenno, and he’d seen to it that government officials who had been involved in it were punished and trustworthy individuals put in their places.

            The only real Sithly thing that Dooku seemed to have done was to kill the two other Sith lords who had indeed been driving Serenno to the brink of civil war. Oddly enough, Darth Sidious, his own master, was the first he killed, taking Sidious by surprise with his Jedi-trained lightsaber skills. Those same skills had allowed him to dispense with Darth Maul in the same fashion. In Serenno’s request to the Jedi Council for assistance, a witness to the two battles between the Sith lords had noted that no one seemed to be more surprised by Dooku’s victories than Dooku himself. Serenno’s request had taken the entire Jedi Council aback because the planet had not asked the Jedi to kill their Sith lord. They merely admitted their suspicions that Dooku would be much happier back in the Light instead of masquerading as something dark and evil in order to scare the government into improving itself. Now that Dooku had accomplished his aim, there was no need for the Count of Serenno to continue the charade. His heart clearly wasn’t in it. And surely, they pointed out, continuing to use the power of the Dark Side was going to harm Dooku’s health?

            Master Yoda had shaken his head in bewilderment, and the rest of the Council had been equally at a loss. But Dooku had been a master once and had sat on the Council. He had been a Jedi and could be again. They were hardly going to let the chance to get him back slip through their fingers…especially when an addendum to the message included a picture taken by an aide in Dooku’s private quarters. The image showed a picture frame on a bedside table displaying a beaming Qui-Gon at his Knighting with Dooku watching proudly. Beside the picture frame lay Qui-Gon’s shorn padawan braid. The distinctive braid with the last bead at the end a precious Serenno jewel, left no doubt in anyone’s mind as to who should be sent to deal with Serenno’s “Sith problem.”

            Qui-Gon stood a saber length away from his former master, his weapon in his hand but not yet ignited. Dooku met his eyes steadily, and there was nothing but weariness and resignation with more than a hint of shame in their yellow depths. The color told Qui-Gon that Dooku had truly Fallen, but the emotions lingering there made Qui-Gon’s heart ache. In that moment, he knew that this would end one of two ways. Either he would die at Dooku’s hand or he would bring his former master back to the Light.

            “The yellow eyes are not a good look on you, Master,” Qui-Gon said softly.

            Dooku chuckled, but there was no humor in it. “I know. You should see my formal Sith robes. They’re worse. I have no idea who Sidious’s tailors were, but my people here could teach them a thing or two about elegant clothing.”

            They went back to staring. A few minutes later, Dooku broke the silence. “I believe that this is the part where you are supposed to kill me.”

            Qui-Gon raised his eyebrows. “Is it, Master? I thought this was the part where you were supposed to kill me.”

            Dooku swallowed hard. “If that is what you believe, then you are mistaken. I won’t kill you.” He shook his head, and a shiver passed through him. “I can’t kill you, and I’m too much of a coward to kill myself.” He shrugged, an awkward movement that was unconvincing. “Go ahead and execute me. I deserve it. You are the only person I trust to do it.”

            Qui-Gon’s voice caught on what might have been a sob. “Master, do you like being a Sith lord?”

            That startled a bitter laugh out of Dooku. “Do I like it? I despise it! I loathe what I’ve become! I loathe myself! But there is nothing else for me to be but this!”

            Quietly, Qui-Gon said, “You can come back to the Light, Master. You can even come back to the Temple. You can be a Jedi again.”

            Dooku made a strangled sound. “How can I? I’ve Fallen, Qui-Gon! My eyes are yellow, and I am guilty of crimes that demand absolution.” He slumped. “I never agreed with the Jedi’s positions on many things, but I have shamed the Order by my actions.” Dooku’s eyes were the sickly color of burnt lamp oil, roiling with his emotions like a field of molten lava. “And I’ve hurt you…and made you my executioner. Please trust me, Qui-Gon when I say that I never meant for things to turn out this way!”

            Qui-Gon shook his head, a ghost of a smile on his face. “I know, Master. I never doubted that.” He did sob then, just once, and it sounded very loud in the quiet field. “I never doubted you, and I still don’t.” He took a deep breath. “Let me prove it to you.” Slowly and deliberately, very aware that he could be signing his own death sentence, Qui-Gon clipped his lightsaber back onto his belt.

            Dooku gasped.

            Smiling through tears that dripped down his face, Qui-Gon held out his hand, palm open, toward Dooku.

            “Come home, Master.” The soft words were the sweetest words that Dooku had ever heard.

            Dooku trembled and breathed out shakily, “I don’t know how anymore.”

            “That’s okay,” Qui-Gon said, his hand still beckoning. “I’ll show you the way. We’ll go together.”

            Dooku stood frozen, watching Qui-Gon with disbelief and something that might have been hope. His eyes closed. Then he stepped blindly forward, crossing the distance between them, clasping and clinging to Qui-Gon’s outstretched hand. Qui-Gon caught Dooku as he staggered, the sheer emotion of the moment too overwhelming for him to manage as he gasped out the word that signed the death sentence of Darth Tyranus and ignited the rebirth of Yan Dooku.

            “Padawan!”

            Dooku’s eyes were suddenly wide open, and as Qui-Gon watched, the yellow bled out of them to be replaced by familiar, beloved brown.

            Then Dooku was falling, falling, falling…into the Light and the only arms that he trusted to catch him.


	3. Show Me What Makes A Family

** Disclaimer ** **: I don’t own it, and I am making no money off of it.**

 ** AN ** **: This is the final chapter in this story. In this chapter, Dooku faces his moment of reckoning with the Jedi Council, his former master, and his former padawan. Though this story is not slash, it could be considered pre-slash if you want to read it that way. The sequel story will be Dooku/Qui-Gon slash (because the two of them are just so cute together), and Obi-Wan will be making a major appearance as well as Yoda. I will be putting both stories into a series for the sake of convenience.**

**I’ve invented the idea of a “Guardian,” but the idea of permanently partnered knights is fanon at the least. I’ve also borrowed the idea of the “mind sweep” from fanon. I’m using italics to denote someone’s thoughts or mind speech. Warning, clichéd sappiness ahead and one mild curse word, nothing that would shock a teenager. I apologize for my inept rendering of Yoda’s unique syntax. And yes, I know Yoda is acting OOC here. I don’t care. I also know that he is essentially breaking/encouraging the breaking of the Code. I don’t care. I think Yoda is definitely entitled seeing as how his Fallen padawan has just returned to the Light. I’m also suggesting that, like Dooku and Qui-Gon, Yoda and his padawan are more attached to each other than in canon.**

**So that’s a wrap. Stay tuned for the sequel story!**

            Qui-Gon felt Dooku’s trepidation as they approached the entrance to the Temple. Automatically, he reached out and gently squeezed his master’s hand, sending reassurance across their training bond. Dooku calmed, sending back gratitude as he managed to still his disorderly emotions.

            The flight back to the Temple had not been easy for either of them, and they had both  been pleased to find that their old training bond was merely blocked, not broken. It would have taken more effort than either of them had the energy for to create a completely new bond. Dooku’s shields had fallen completely once they’d left the planet, leaving his mind defenseless. Qui-Gon had put the ship on auto-pilot and settled in for a week of putting his broken master back together again. The Dark Side had played havoc with Dooku’s mental disciplines, and Qui-Gon had temporarily extended his own shields around his master. Even now, Qui-Gon was shielding him, and he was hoping that he would have more time with his master before he was sent out on another mission. They had more work to do before Dooku would be back to his previous level of mental discipline. Until then, he would be highly vulnerable. Frankly, if the Council tried to send Qui-Gon away, he would flatly refuse to go. His master needed him now, and his master was more important than a mission.

            Master Windu and Master Billaba were waiting for them when they entered the Temple.

            “The Council is waiting for both of you,” Master Windu said. His face was blank, and there was no hint as to what the Council was planning to do with Dooku. “Knight Jinn, I assume you have Dooku’s light saber?”

            Qui-Gon nodded, gesturing to his utility belt, and Master Windu immediately recognized Dooku’s saber hanging besides Qui-Gon’s own.

            “Very well then. We will proceed to the meeting.”

            The doors to the Council chamber were shut and Force-locked behind them once they had entered. Qui-Gon could feel his master tensing again as Dooku faced his compatriots for the first time since his Fall, clearly unsure of his reception. He tightened the shields around his master even as he sent a steady stream of reassurance and calm to him.

            “Shielding Dooku, you are, Knight Jinn,” Yoda said. It was not a question.

            Qui-Gon confirmed it. “Yes, Master Yoda, I am. The Dark Side disrupted his mental disciplines, and the two of us have as of yet not been able to fully repair his shields.”

            His face expressionless, Yoda ordered, “Drop those shields, you will, Knight Jinn. Dooku, drop your shields completely you will. Open yourself to a projected mind sweep you will. See, we will, what you have done. Call you to account for your actions, we must.”

            Qui-Gon sighed, glancing at his master who nodded, swallowing hard. Qui-Gon let the shields around Dooku drop as the elder man went to his knees on the floor and let his remaining shields fall.

            The projected mind sweep, guided by Yoda’s practiced mind, allowed the entire Council as well as Qui-Gon, to see everything that had transpired in Dooku’s life since he had left the Order, focusing mainly on his Fall and his actions during his time as a Sith lord. Qui-Gon was not shocked by any of it. Dooku had been brutally honest with him within their bond the previous week. The Council remained mostly silent as the events played before their eyes, though Dooku’s use of Force Lightning as well as his two battles with the other Sith did occasion some murmurings by various observers. The final scene they witnessed was Dooku’s confrontation with his former padawan, and there was a collective sigh as they watched the moment when the Fallen Jedi Master had taken Qui-Gon’s hand and returned to the Light.

            The images faded as Yoda ended the mind sweep. Dooku remained on his knees, his head bowed, as tears streamed quietly down his cheeks. Qui-Gon wanted desperately to comfort his master, but he managed to stay where he was. The Council had to pass judgment on Dooku.

            Yoda glanced around the circle of Council members, meeting the eyes of each of them. Qui-Gon had never known much about how the Council members came to a decision, but he suspected that the other members were giving Yoda permission to render the verdict on behalf of the entire Council. Finally, after a few more agonizing moments, Master Yoda left his place, walking forward, gimer stick in hand, to face Dooku.

            “Fallen you were, that much is true. Wrong you have done, that much is certain. But monster you were not and are not, this much we know. Contrite and guilty, you have returned to us. Learned have you, a very dear lesson.” Yoda banged his stick on the floor. “Sith you were, but Jedi you are. Dead, Darth Tyranus is. Reborn, Knight Dooku is. Wish that, you do?”

            Qui-Gon watched his master struggle to find his voice. “Yes, please, I do wish that,” Dooku managed to say, his voice trembling.

            Yoda’s hand reached out, grasping for Dooku’s chin. Yoda had been Dooku’s master, and Dooku suspected he knew what was coming. He lowered his head obediently. The gimer stick came down breathtakingly hard on his head, so hard that Dooku briefly saw stars, though the stick amazingly did not break. The clawed hand gentled then, tipping his head up to meet his former master’s eyes.

            “Welcomed back, you are, Knight Dooku.” Yoda turned slightly to catch Qui-Gon’s attention. “Knight Jinn, to the Order your former master has returned. Willing are you, to serve as his Guardian for a period of two years and to be restricted to Coruscant for that time?”

            Qui-Gon did not hesitate. “Yes, Master Yoda, I will.” Qui-Gon had expected the Guardianship. It was essentially probation for Dooku with the restrictions being transferred to the Guardian’s keeping rather than the Order’s keeping. He had hoped that he would be chosen as the Guardian of his master. Yes, damn it, he was attached, and he was not ashamed of that. That attachment had brought Dooku back to the Light, and that was enough for him. As to the planet restriction, Qui-Gon found himself more than ready to stay in one place for a while.

            Yoda’s eyes sharpened. “Willing are you, to be permanent partner to Dooku? Powerful, he is. To leave him alone, we do not wish. Suited for each other, we think you are. Opposites you are, though perhaps not so much anymore. Balance each other, you will.”

            That did surprise Qui-Gon. A permanent partnership was exactly that. The two knights involved would live together, travel together, be assigned to classes and missions together, to the point that if one was raised to the Council, the other would be as well. They would be expected to maintain a bond, often a bond much stronger than a standard training bond. Rarely did a permanently bonded pair die separately. When one rejoined the Force, the other inevitably followed in short order.

            Qui-Gon took a slow careful breath. He turned, locking eyes with his master still kneeling on the floor. He sent the question across their bond. Without hesitation, Dooku nodded.

            Qui-Gon smiled and turned back to Yoda. “I am willing.”

            Yoda smiled and banged his stick on the floor. “Be it so then! With us all, may the Force be! Adjourned, this Council meeting is!”

            The Council members drifted away after taking a moment to exchange awkward but guardedly welcoming greetings with their returned compatriot. Finally, only Yoda, Qui-Gon, and Dooku remained. Qui-Gon was preparing to reinstate his shields over his master’s mind when his master sent a request over the bond to wait.

            Dooku turned back toward Yoda and, for the second time that evening, dropped to his knees on the floor. The first moment of humbling before Yoda was for the Council. This however, this was all for the man who had been his master…the man who had knighted him and had cut his braid…the man who he had betrayed when he Fell.

            Yoda slowly crossed the floor, and there was a depth of pain in his expression that had been kept well-hidden from the Council…a depth of pain that made Qui-Gon wince. Dooku had been Qui-Gon’s master. But Dooku had also been Yoda’s padawan.

            Silently, Yoda handed his stick to Qui-Gon. He came to within reach of Dooku’s arms.

            Dooku swallowed hard, chocking back a sob. “Master…I am…I am so very sorry.”

            Yoda himself seemed to be struggling against his own emotions. For a moment, he seemed incapable of speech.

            Then he found his voice. “Hurt, so hurt, I was…when you Fell. Anger, I felt. Grief, I felt. Hard to release, those emotions were.” He raised small hands to cradle Dooku’s face.

            “Forgiven, you are, padawan mine.” The last words came out as scarcely more than a whisper, but Dooku felt as well as heard them, over the old training bond, now unblocked and open again, that he shared with Yoda. Yoda bathed him in relief, affection, and joy, and all Dooku could do was to send back the same. Reaching out, he gathered his small master into his arms, stilling the trembling in the small form as he gently stroked his master’s back. Short arms settled around his neck, and then they were both crying, healing tears that unknotted the last tightness in Dooku’s chest.

 _I am attached_ , Dooku thought. _And I don’t care. This is right._

            With new peace at that revelation finally beginning to sink in, Dooku reached out blindly across the bond to Qui-Gon, just as he’d done scarcely a week ago, but this time, he reached out to draw Qui-Gon to them both.

            And then, to his surprise, he heard Yoda doing the same over a newly-forming bond between Yoda and Qui-Gon.

            Yan Dooku laughed and without hesitation welcomed his padawan into their embrace.

 _Family_ , he thought. _This is family…something we all need to learn more about…something that might just save us all._


End file.
